"Humanitarian" Geneva convention observing Taliban video shows execution of 15 Pakistani soldiers.(TheStar).Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan —Fifteen Pakistani soldiers stood blindfolded, handcuffed to each other, as one of their Taliban captors held an AK-47 rifle and spoke with fury about revenge.
He left no doubt what would come at any second.Pakistan’s Taliban abducted the paramilitary troops on Dec. 23 from near the country’s lawless tribal areas to avenge military operations. Now they have released a video showing their execution as a warning to Pakistan’s 600,000-member army, which has failed to break the back of the insurgents despite superior firepower and a series of offensives against their strongholds in the mountains.“Twelve of our comrades were besieged and mercilessly martyred,” said the militant. “To avenge those comrades, we will kill these men. We warn the government of Pakistan that if the killing of our friends is not halted, this will be the fate of you all.” Before death, one of the men described how dozens of Taliban fighters stormed their fort in the northwestern Tank district and kidnapped the soldiers.“They attacked us with rockets, killed a sentry. One ran away. The Taliban entered the fort and captured us with our weapons,” he said. “They tied our hands, put us in a Datsun and took us away.”The video then shows the fighters taking turns shooting the soldiers.The Taliban and Pakistan’s military, one of the largest in the world, have entered exploratory peace talks that raised hopes that their conflict, which has killed thousands of people, could ease. But the talks have faltered, a senior Pakistani security official said, and the video is likely to enrage the army.Hmmmm......No word if they burried them or left for the vultures?Read the full story here.

Israel to blame for talks ‘fiasco’ - Abbas.(RN).
The responsibility for a failure to restart stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks will lie solely with Tel Aviv and its refusal to halt settlement construction, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday in Moscow.“If Palestinian-Israeli negotiations end in a fiasco, the blame for this will be Israel’s alone,” Abbas told journalists at a brief news conference after a meeting with Russia’s chief mufti, Rawil Gaynetdin.“We are committed to a continuation of talks…but the settlement policies of Israel prevent this,” Abaas said, adding that settler violence was continuing. “Five mosques were recently burnt down in the West Bank.”
Abbas arrived on Thursday on a six-day visit to Russia, one of the members of the so-called Quartet on Middle East peace. The other members are the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
The visit is part of a European tour to drum up more support for the Palestinians’ stance on settlements as attempts to revive full talks flounder. Exploratory discussions in Jordan on January 14 ended unsuccessfully.President Dmitry Medvedev reconfirmed Russia’s support for an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital during a meeting with Abbas on Friday.“Our relations remain on an excellent level,” Medvedev said. “Russian-Palestinian friendship…stretches back not decades but centuries.”Russia has consistently called for a freeze on new settlement construction by Israel.
The Kremlin’s commitment to an independent Palestinian state dates back to the Soviet era, although its influence in the region has waned considerably since then. But Moscow also enjoys both political and cultural ties with Israel, which is home to a massive Russian-speaking diaspora.
The Palestinian leader has enjoyed a warm welcome in Russia. On Saturday, he was honored by the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, as a “guardian of Christian values in the Middle East”Hmmmmm............A “guardian of Christian values in the Middle East”. “In the last 40 years, the Christian population in the West Bank has slumped from about 20 percent of the total to less than two percent today.” Read the full story here.

‘Israel to Give Obama no more than 12 Hours Notice on Attacking Iran’.(INN).HT: IsraelMatzav.Israeli officials told visiting USS Chief Joint of Staffs Martin Dempsey that it would give President Barack Obama no more than 12 hours notice if and when it attacks Iran, The London Times reported Sunday.The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report, the latest in a number of suposed scenarios concerning cooperation or lack of it between Jerusalem and Washington.
It is left to speculation whether the rumors are based on facts or are leaked by officials to mask the possibility of secret military coordination.The London Times said its sources explained that that Israel fears that President Obama would try to torpedo an Israel attack if more notice were given because he is concerned that Iran will respond by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a rise in the price of oil that could cripple Western economies.If the attack were to occur in the next 10 months, it would put President Obama in a tight spot on the eve of his bid for re-election.President Shimon Peres told Dempsey, "I am sure that in this fight [against Iran] we will emerge victorious. It is a fight that does not belong exclusively to the United States or Israel, but a global struggle to create a safe world for all peoples.”Hmmmm.......Would you warn Obama.....given his track record of throwing allies under the bus?Read the full story here.

Barack Obama What Are You Up To Now?
I began filming this after a dozen or so train cars went by on a stretch of track south of Santa Cruz California. Where are the military vehicles going? Why are they being shipped? What could this possibly be for? Barack Obama, what are you up to?There are 3 more videos here.HT:BeforeitisNews.

Saudi Arabia withdraws its monitors from Syria, urges more international pressure.(AlArabiya).Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday Riyadh was pulling its monitors from the Arab League’s heavily criticized observer's mission in Syria, which has been extended for another month, because Damascus had not kept its promises.“My country will withdraw its monitors because the Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan," Prince Saud al-Faisal told Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo. The statement was obtained by Reuters after he spoke.“We are calling on the international community to bear its responsibility, and that includes our brothers in Islamic states and our friends in Russia, China, Europe and the United States,” Prince Saud said, calling for “all possible pressure” to push Syria to adhere to the Arab peace plan.Prince Saud’s stamen followed a decision to extend the Arab League’s observer mission Syria for another month during a meeting by Arab foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital, where they decided to add more members to the mission and provide them with more resources.An officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media, said the U.N. would train the observers.The move had been widely expected after the troubled mission technically expired on Thursday. Many in Syria's opposition movement have complained that the observers have failed to curb the bloodshed in the country as the regime cracks down on a 10-month-old uprising against it.A League panel held closed-doors talks to hear a report on the mission that blames both sides, the government and opposition, for the bloodshed, according to an Arab diplomatic source. It recommends an extension while cautioning that its observers would not be deployed indefinitely.At a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo, the Arab League looks set to extend and expand its observer mission, despite strong criticism that it has failed to stem 10 months of deadly violence.Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi was at the Cairo talks and due to chair a broader meeting of foreign ministers from the 22-member bloc to decide the future of the mission launched a month ago.Sunday's report was being delivered by the mission's chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan, who wants his mandate to be strengthened, not scrapped, a League official said.In a statement late Saturday, Dabi said the mission's mandate was “to verify that the Syrian government has implemented the terms of an Arab League plan to solve the crisis, not to stop the bloodshed and violence.”But the opposition Syrian National Council has been lobbying for UN intervention and said it would reveal “a counter-report” later on Sunday to try to discredit Dabi's account.The SNC said it also plans to send a delegation to the United Nations to press the Security Council for intervention.Neighboring Turkey, which has called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, said on Sunday that it was ready to work with the United Nations if a humanitarian crisis developed in Syria.“We hope that before the situation reaches that stage, the Syrian administration will halt the unjust war it has waged against its own people and find ways to make peace with its people,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.“But if a humanitarian tragedy unfolds before our eyes, and if the U.N. steps in, we are ready to work with the United Nations,” he added.Read the full story here.

US to send the oldest US aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise to Persian Gulf.(PTV). US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has vowed to maintain a fleet of eleven warships despite budget pressures, mostly to project sea power against Iran.On board of the oldest US aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, Panetta told the crowd of 1,700 sailors that the 50-year-old ship is heading to the Persian Gulf region in a direct message to Tehran.“The reason we maintain a presence in the Middle East ... We want them to know that we are fully prepared to deal with any contingency and it's better for them to try to deal with us through diplomacy," Panetta said.The USS Enterprise is the oldest active duty ship in the American naval fleet and its mission dates back to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the Vietnam War.The decision to maintain 11 warships comes at a time when the US economy is facing a national debt of more than USD 15 trillion after a decade of costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and is preparing for 487 billion dollars in defense cuts over the next 10 years.On January 5, US President Barack Obama announced the shift in Washington's defense strategy to reduce the expenses. The eight-page document contained no details about how broad concepts for reshaping the military - such as focusing more on Asia and less on Europe - will translate into troop or weapons cuts.Iran has warned the West of the possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world's oil shipments pass.Read the full story here.

US aircraft carrier enters Gulf without incident.(Jpost).WASHINGTON - A US aircraft carrier sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf without incident on Sunday, a day after Iran backed away from an earlier threat to take action if an American carrier returned to the strategic waterway.The carrier USS Abraham Lincoln completed a "regular and routine" passage through the strait, a critical gateway for the region's oil exports, "as previously scheduled and without incident," said Lieutenant Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the US Fifth Fleet.Read the full story here.

Fallout On Obama’s Killing Of Keystone Jobs Continues As “Repulsed” Laborers’ Union Quits Alliance.(LUR).The fallout over Barack Obama’s decision to kill 20,000 (mostly) union jobs on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project continues as the Laborers International Union of North America left the BlueGreen Alliance Friday afternoon.Founded in 2006, the BlueGreen Alliance is a political pairing of left-wing unions and environmental groups whose mission (so to speak) is to ensure that America’s conversion to a green economy results in union jobs as jobs in industries like coal are destroyed.Included among its stated goals are passage of cap and trade legislation, as well as the Employee Free Choice Act (aka card-check unionization).According to the Laborers’ union press release announcing the union’s departure from the BlueGreen Alliance on Friday afternoon, at least Laborers’ president Terry O’Sullivan seems to be understanding the Devil’s pact union bosses have made by sacrificing their members’ jobs in exchange for an economically-unrealistic “green” economy:

“AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently said there was a divide in the labor movement over this project,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said. “That is an understatement. That divide is as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon. We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women.” [Emphasis added.]Specifically, O’Sullivan was referencing the CWA, SEIU, UAW, Transport Workers Union, United Steelworkers Union and Amalgamated Transit Union who had sold their souls (and union jobs) to the environmentalists and praisedObama’s decision to side with the green activists by killing the pipeline, as well as destroying the hopes of unemployed union members.O’Sullivan said Keystone is only the beginning of what will likely be a protracted struggle over major projects to build and strengthen America’s energy infrastructure. “LIUNA plans to unite with the support of the strong and proud unions of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department to fight for good jobs that build America and strengthen our energy resources,” he said. “We will not stand idly by, nor will the Building Trades.”“Their real target wasn’t the pipeline, but the oil sands. They missed that target – the oil sands will be developed whether Keystone XL is built or not – but hit tens of thousands of working men and women,” O’Sullivan said. “It is impossible for LIUNA to stand side-by-side with these groups. Construction workers are struggling with 16 percent unemployment and 1.3 million of them are jobless.The Keystone XL was not just a pipeline to them, it was a lifeline.” [Emphasis added.]As was noted in the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama’s plan replace jobs destroyed with his “green agenda” was faulty at best. In fact, the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign has already destroyed up to 1.24 million jobs in 36 states—with more surely to come.For the sake of jobs (union and union-free), let us hope that more union bosses—and, if not them, their members—wake up from their delusion that Barack Obama is actually interested in creating jobs, as opposed to his agenda to “transform America.”Hmmmm....."Et Tu Trumka"?Read the full story here.

Awesome: U.S. Catholic Bishops Slam Obama’s “Direct Attack On Religion” As “Literally Unconscionable”.(PRNW).The Catholic Bishops of the United States called “literally unconscionable” a decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today’s announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.The cardinal-designate continued, “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable. It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”The HHS rule requires that sterilization and contraception — including controversial abortifacients — be included among “preventive services” coverage in almost every healthcare plan available to Americans. “The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” added Cardinal-designate Dolan.At issue, the U.S. bishops and other religious leaders insist, is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for the conscience of Catholics and all other Americans.“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, chairperson of the board at Franciscan Alliance, Inc., a system of 13 Catholic hospitals. “I have hundreds of employees who will be upset and confused by this edict. I cannot understand it at all.”“The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand,” he said. “The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation. We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision.”Hmmmm........Obama Tells High School Students: "I Don't Think Ethics Was My Favorite Subject".Read the full story here.

The Barack Obama administration is rigging US Census by counting Illegal Aliens.(NWV).By Chuck Baldwin.The Barack Obama administration is quietly in the process of rigging use of the US Census of 2010, which deliberately counted millions of illegal aliens, for the purpose of restructuring the apportionment of the US House of Representatives. Accordingly, as candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of one of the negatively affected states (Montana), Mr. Bob Fanning and I have joined with several others in becoming amici curiae in a pending federal lawsuit brought by the State of Louisiana against the US Secretary of Commerce, et al., which was filed January, 13, 2012 in the United States Supreme Court.What has happened is, the US Census Bureau erroneously claims that it “‘is required by the U.S. Constitution count everyone living in this country, regardless of immigration or citizenship status.’” Accordingly, they have counted millions of illegal aliens in the 2010 Census and are using those figures to apportion the US House of Representatives. If this egregious misinterpretation of the US Constitution is allowed to stand, five states (Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, and Ohio) will lose representation in the US Congress to which they are lawfully entitled, while three states (California, Texas, and Florida) will be awarded additional representation in the US Congress to which they are not lawfully entitled. And, of course, this will also directly impact the makeup of the Electoral College, which ultimately elects the President of the United States.Of course, this manipulation of the 2010 US Census also impacts the election of the US President, as those states that are granted more seats in the US Congress are also granted more votes in the Electoral College as the Electoral College is composed of a “Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.Read the full story here.

For Obama’s Navy Policy, “Talk Is Cheap”.(Heritage).By Brian Slattery.As President Obama has hastily drawn down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to meet arbitrary timelines, he has taken the opportunity to ramp up rhetoric on a strategic military shift to the Asia–Pacific region. He recently made it clear in the new defense strategy guidance that military focus will be directed toward emerging threats in the region and stressed that security needs will drive the budget, contrary to recent concerns that fiscal constraints have directed miserly defense spending. In spite of this rhetoric, the defense budget has been cut dramatically during Obama’s presidency. As an editorial in The Washington Times recently commented, “Talk is cheap. An emerging debate over the Navy’s future reveals the price America will pay for slashing defense.”A shrinking U.S. Navy contradicts the Administration’s pledges for increased presence in the Asia–Pacific region. No one is debating that American naval presence in the region is a key component of both U.S. and global security. This is particularly evident in China’s increasing efforts to assert its “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea. Yet Obama has failed to address these concerns through the budget process. In fact, the need for a more robust navy will only increase if his guidance is implemented. The U.S. fleet, amidst a host of defense issues in need of attention, cannot atrophy any further.The aircraft carrier fleet is an asset that should be of particular concern. There is a possibility that soon the fleet may fall to nine ships—below the congressionally mandated requirement of 11. Meanwhile, China has recently begun sea trials on its first aircraft carrier, and its officials have expressed a requirement of at least three carriers “so we can defend our rights and our maritime interests effectively.” While China has claimed in the past that it intends to float a navy only to protect its own territorial waters, an aircraft carrier program signifies only one thing: power projection. Taking this into account with the disputed waters in the South China Sea, one can assume that China has higher aspirations than merely a coastal security fleet. This reinforces the need for a strong U.S. carrier fleet in the years to come.For all the talk of an increased focus on East Asia and the Pacific, there appears to be a divide between national security aspirations and what the U.S. Navy can afford. If President Obama wishes to follow through on pledges of a greater Pacific presence, he must either somehow overturn much of the defense slashing he has implemented or attempt to loot other Defense accounts to fund a sustainable blue-water Navy. Instead of continuing to cut defense to give the illusion of fiscal responsibility, perhaps Obama should consider matching rhetoric to reality.Hmmmm.....Or stop investing in "Solyndra like "projects?Read the full story here.

"Arizona strikes back": State investigates feds over gun-running.(WT).Arizona's state legislature will open its own investigation into the Obama administration's disgraced gun-running program, known as "Fast and Furious," the speaker of the state House said Friday.Speaker Andy Tobin created the committee, and charged it with looking at whether the program broke any state laws — raising the possibility of state penalties against those responsible for the operation.It's a turnaround from the rest of the immigration issue, where the federal government has sued to block the state's own set of laws.A law requiring businesses to check new workers' legal status was upheld by the Supreme Court last year, and the court has agreed to hear the case of Arizona's crackdown law that makes being an illegal immigrant a state crime and gives state and local police the power to enforce that law.Fast and Furious was a straw-purchase program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The goal was to try to trace guns sold in Arizona shops and then trafficked across the Mexican border, where they landed in the hands of drug cartels.As part of the operation, however, agents let the guns "walk" — meaning they lost track of them. At least two of the guns ended up at the scene where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with Mexican bandits along a smuggling corridor in Arizona.Mr. Tobin will announce the committee's jurisdiction at a press conference in Phoenix on Monday. The committee is charged with looking into the facts about the program, what impact it had on Arizona and whether any of the state's laws were broken.A report is due back by March 30.Hmmmm.......GunWalker - "These boots will keep on walking, one of these days they'll walk all over you?"Read the full story here.

UK - Pilot with terror links deemed a security risk accuses airline of racism after losing his job.(Dailymail).A British airline pilot arrested over an alleged terrorist plot is claiming racial and religious discrimination after losing his job.The pilot, a Muslim, was judged a security risk because of his close links to two alleged extremists suspected of ‘planning to use an aircraft as part of a hostile or terrorist act’. Because of draconian reporting restrictions imposed last week by an employment tribunal, the man cannot be identified and neither can his employer.Despite this, a well-known British carrier said in a letter that the pilot was ‘in a position to cause considerable harm’ and added that it was in the ‘national interest’ to ensure he never flew commercial aircraft again. Concerns about the two suspected extremists – one is a business partner of the pilot’s brother – were first raised when they paid for flying lessons and a light aircraft in cash.During a raid on the London home of one of the pair, detectives found documents relating to the operation of aircraft, a flight map of the UK and literature from an Islamic extremist group banned in many countries.The pilot, who lives in South-East England and was based at Heathrow, has known the men for ten years and rented a flat from one of them. In October 2007 the pilot himself was arrested – and immediately suspended by the airline – but was never charged. Both his landlord and the other man were prosecuted under the Terrorism Act. Charges against one of the men were later dropped and the other was cleared by a jury.It was at this point that the airline began an internal investigation into the pilot’s conduct, having been passed information about him by Scotland Yard’s SO15 anti-terrorism command at the time of his arrest.The investigation heard claims, denied by the pilot, that he had suggested the September 11 attacks were ‘comparable to the United States’ wars in Afghanistan and Iraq’.On another occasion, while returning to the UK, it was alleged he had read a book on the flight deck which, he explained to the colleague who was captaining the plane, put a ‘different perspective on 9/11’.Details of the extraordinary case have never previously been disclosed.The pilot’s discrimination claim began last week at a tribunal in Havant, Hampshire, where he claimed his employers had effectively ruled that he was ‘guilty by association’.He told the hearing that it was ‘inconceivable that the treatment that I have received . . . would have happened to a non-Muslim or to someone of a different race’.Although the pilot’s case is likely to attract the support of human-rights campaigners, there will be considerable sympathy too for the airline, which said yesterday in a statement that ‘the safety and security of our customers, aircraft and employees is always our number one priority and we will never compromise this area of our business’.The airline added that following information from the police ‘we carried out a thorough investigation and risk analysis and concluded that the claimant was not suitable for work in his role’.Before the hearing began on Thursday, the pilot’s legal team successfully obtained a temporary restricted reporting order preventing him being identified. The reasons for the order, which is being challenged by lawyers for The Mail on Sunday, were not given, although they are understood to relate to illness.Read the full story here.

Netanyahu urges attorney general to Probe Jerusalem mufti who encouraged killing of Jews.(YNet).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to order an investigation against the top Muslim cleric in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority who quoted a religious text that includes passages about killing Jews.During an event celebrating the 47th anniversary of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement last week, Mufti Mohammed Hussein cited a hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) claiming that the Earth's end of days will not happen until Muslims kill Jews in a religious battle: "The Hour (of Resurrection) will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'" The moderator who introduced the mufti at the Fatah event said, "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith." Netanyahu condemned the mufti's comments, which were posted on YouTube by an Israeli watchdog group, as "heinous." Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, "What's frightening is the fact that the mufti's comments were aired on the Palestinian Authority's official television station and website and have been backed by all the Palestinian officials."If this isn’t anti-Semitism, I don't know what is," he said. Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beiteinu) said the mufti should be investigated and prosecuted, adding that the "extremist Muslim imam who spoke of a final solution gets his inspiration from Nazi Germany." Read the full story here.

Anti-nuclear group blasts J. Lo and her car for alleged Fiat ties to Iran.(AlArabiya).American singer Jennifer Lopez has come under fire from an unexpected source: United Against Nuclear Iran. The group has, in an open letter, asked the “American Idol” judge to renounce her relationship with Italian car manufacturer Fiat.UANI is a New-York based group that lobbies for a tough international response to Iran’s alleged nuclear program.The group has targeted Lopez for a TV ad she appears in for the car company that UANI says is associated with the Iranian regime’s transgressions.UANI has even created a parody of the ad, in which the narrator imitating Lopez says: “.. Fiat sells cars, truck and other equipment on the streets of Iran, where the brutal Iranian regime represses its own people, hangs homosexuals, support terrorists including al-Qaeda and builds a nuclear weapon. “I would never want that on my block, but Fiat does pay me millions. “Fiat and the brutal Iranian regime ...or the people of Iran. I hope concerned citizens don’t make me choose.”Fiat sells and distributes trucks in Iran through its subsidiary Iveco. Some of those truck have reportedly been used to transport ballistic missiles and to “stage gruesome public executions” according to UANI. UANI sent an open letter to the singer, demanding the international star ends her endorsements of Fiat products if the company does not renounce all business dealing with the Islamic Republic.“By endorsing Fiat, you are serving as a spokesperson for a company that freely does business with a regime that is developing an illegal nuclear weapons program, financing and sponsoring terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, has killed American and NATO soldiers and is recognized as one of the world’s leading human rights violators,” wrote UANI President Mark Wallace.Wallace served under the George W. Bush administration as the U.S. representative to the United Nations for the agency’s management and reform.The group sent a similar letter to the CEO of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, asking the company to cut ties with the regime in Tehran and pointing out that other car manufacturers such as KIA and Toyota have already done so.Read the full story here.

Bibi featured in Obama campaign ad.(IsraelMatzav).Prime Minister Netanyahu is featured in a campaign ad for Barack Hussein Obama that targets American Jews. So are President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak (of course, the latter two are less of a surprise, particularly Peres). But then, what do you expect them to say? We're the ones who need to get the word out that this is a lie.But Danny Ayalon (who is persona non grata in Washington)? I don't get that one.Read and see the full story here.

Iranian trucks carrying chemical missile materials intercepted en route to Syria.(TZ).Four Iranian trucks were stopped two weeks ago in Turkey's Kilis province on the border with Syria and were found to be carrying raw materials used in the making of ballistic missiles, Turkish daily Taraf has reported.Four trucks with Iranian license plates were intercepted by Turkish authorities two weeks ago at the Öncüpınar Border Gate in Kilis province, which lies to the north of Syria, a country to which Turkey has been blocking the delivery of arms shipments since pro-democracy protests turned bloody in the Arab country.Although the contents of the trucks were not publicized by customs officials, Taraf stated that on Friday it obtained reports confirming the trucks' dangerous load. According to the daily, one of the trucks was carrying four six-meter-long cylindrical tanks and heat-resistant materials, while the other three were carrying 66 tons of sodium sulfate, all of which were on their way to Syria possibly to be used in the making of chemical missiles.Turkey has dispatched a scientific team to study the materials and the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also requested to be informed of the contents of the trucks' loads, Taraf noted. Diplomatic sources confirmed that the trucks carried a load that was in violation of a UN embargo on Syria, but that the responsibility of finding out where the trucks originated from was Iran's.The Iranian Embassy in Ankara denied that the four trucks still being held in Turkey were carrying military equipment from Iran to Syria. The drivers of the trucks also denied allegations that they were carrying arms, stating that their cargo consisted of raw materials used in the leather industry, water pipes and iron.Read the full story here.

Three female American activists denied entry to Egypt, deported from Cairo Airport.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Security authorities at Cairo International Airport denied entry to three female American activists on Sunday morning for security reasons.Officials added their names on a list of those banned from entering the country under the classification “Very Confidential,” according to security sources, who spoke under the cover of anonymity to the state-run MENA news agency.The airport security authorities inspected the three American’s iPad devices, handed them back to the women, and deported them back to the United States.The three American activists arrived on a plane coming from Bahrain, intending to participate in demonstrations and celebrations on the anniversary of the January 25 uprisings that toppled the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak last February.Hmmmm.........Democrats?Read the full story here.

Will No-Interest Banking Undo Turkey's Economy?(DanielPipes).That's the thesis implicit to David Goldman's analysis at "Recall notice for the Turkish model." After dubbing the Turkish economy a bubble that "is bursting, starting with the stock market and national currency," he makes this observation about the prime minister: Erdoğan has the weirdest economic views of any serving head of government. He justified the credit bubble on religious grounds, pledging repeatedly to cut the "real" interest rate (the cost of interest minus the inflation rate) to zero. "We aim to cut the real interest rate in the long run, so people will increase their incomes through working, not through interest," he said last April. "Eventually we aim to equalize the interest rate and inflation rate." Erdoğan believes that this would fulfill the Islamic injunction against lending for interest; if the real interest rate is zero, he seems to think, the sharia ban on interest is fulfilled de facto.In other words, Erdoğan's wacky financial ideas, which are likely to doom his country's economy, follow directly from his Islamist dream of eliminating riba (usury). More generally put, the Islamist economic program undermines itself. Read the full story here.

India: Muslims slaughter pregnant cow in Hindu temple compound.(POS).A tense atmosphere has prevailed in Perumbavoor, a satellite town of Kochi city and a municipality in the Indian state of Kerala, after a group of Muslims slaughtered a pregnant cow inside the compound of the Sree Dharma Sastha late Tuesday afternoon. The perpetrators slit the cow's throat.Cows are considered sacred in Hinduism, and killing them is prohibited. The killing of the pregnant cow inside the temple compound was a deliberate act of sacrilege designed to provoke local Hindus.A member of the Sree Dharma Sastha temple committee is reported to have said, “If they wanted the cow for meat they could have simply stolen it. That they committed the heinous act right in front of the temple has only one explanation – their intention was perhaps to create trouble.""As per police reports, Perumbavoor and the surrounding areas have witnessed a rise in Islamist operations recently." The Hindu website says.Read the full story here.

Video - Keystone Calamity.(CS).Obama chooses Saudi oil over Canadian oil with his rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.Read and see the full story here.

Growing Islamic fundamentalism in Bosnia-Herzegovina.(AlexanderMunch).Christians and moderate Muslims are trying to stem the tide of Islamo-fascism in the heart of the former Yugoslavia. by John Newton and Eva-Marie Kolman.The rise of radical Islam in Bosnia-Herzegovina is going unchallenged by the authorities, the country’s leading bishop has warned. Cardinal Vinko Puljic, the Archbishop of Sarajevo, highlighted the growth of extremism in the country during a visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need.The 66-year-old cardinal said that the growing process of Islamisation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is being funded by radicals in the Middle East. He said: “Muslim centres and mosques have been built in many places with petrodollars from Saudi Arabia.”During the interview with ACN in Königstein, Germany, the cardinal stressed the spread of Wahhabism, an Islamic reform movement, which is the official religion of Saudi Arabia. Many commentators have linked Wahhabism to terrorist movements such as al-Qaeda.The Archbishop of Sarajevo said that there are already 3-5,000 Wahhabis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the group is seeking to gain influence in society. Cardinal Puljic said: “Nobody in the government has the courage to do anything to prevent this development.” According to Aid to the Church in Need’s report on the oppression of Christians, Persecuted and Forgotten?, more than 100,000 young Bosnian Muslims have encountered Wahhabi Islam through organisations such as Active Islamic Youth, Furqan, and the Muslim Youth Council. Cardinal Puljic added: “In recent years, at least 70 new mosques have been built in Sarajevo alone.”Read the full story here.

Cold War Redux: Russia’s Kaliningrad buildup causes NATO chief concern.(SR).Vilnius: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen Thursday urged Russia to refrain from building up its military near the alliance’s borders, saying it was a concern for the 28-nation organization.Rasmussen questioned Russian moves to bolster its forces in its Kaliningrad territory, which borders NATO members Lithuania and Poland, both part of Moscow’s Cold War-era stamping ground.“These Russian statements are of course a matter of concern for NATO allies,” he told reporters in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius. “It is a complete waste of Russian financial resources, because it is a buildup of offensive military capacities directed against an artificial enemy, an enemy that doesn’t exist,” he said.“NATO has no intention whatsoever to attack Russia,” he added, speaking alongside Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite.Moscow has warned that it plans to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, and earlier this month, Russian media reported that an S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system would go into service there in April.Russia repeatedly has said it will be forced to take additional measures if it fails to agree with NATO on a missile defense shield.NATO powerhouse the United States insists a shield is needed against potential threats from Iran, but Russia counters that anti-missile facilities planned in Poland would undermine its own security.Rasmussen said it was time for a reality check.“It doesn’t make sense to build up offensive military capacities in the Kaliningrad region. I would encourage the Russians to face a new reality, we are not enemies, we are not adversaries, we should be partners and it would be of mutual benefit if we develop peaceful cooperation,” he said.Lithuania and fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia – where Rasmussen was due later Thursday and Friday – are nervous about Russian military moves.They won independence in 1991 after five decades of Soviet rule, joined NATO and the EU in 2004, and have strained relations with Moscow.“Russian actions do not increase trust between NATO and Russia,” Grybauskaite said. “We invite Russia to be open for dialogue, to see new threats and realities and to seek smart defense,” she added.With a total population of 6.3 million and professional forces of 20,500, the Baltic states lack enough fighter planes to police their skies. Other NATO members therefore take turns doing so, from a base in Lithuania.The trio wants to extend the air patrol accord, which expires in 2014.Read the full story here.

The Palestinian Josef Fritzl?Palestinian man jails daughter in bathroom for 9 years.(YNet).The Palestinian Josef Fritzl? The Qalqilya Police on Saturday freed a 20-year-old woman who was locked in a bathroom for over nine years.The woman's father admitted to locking up his daughter since she was 11-years-old, citing a "family dispute" as the reason behind her prolonged imprisonment. When police officers arrived at the house, they discovered a locked door. The owner of the house refused the officers' demands to unlock the door, claiming his daughter was using the bathroom. The woman heard the commotion and started screaming for help. She told police officers that her father had the key to the door. After finally unlocking the door, the officers were surprised to discover a young woman sprawled on the floor, next to a pillow and a blanket.The officers took the woman, who has not seen daylight for almost a decade, to the local police station, where she was given food, clothing and a social worker. The father was taken into custody. The rescue operation was made possible by intelligence obtained by the police. The officers of the West bank city noted the woman thanked them for saving her after long years in captivity.Hmmmmm........How many more are there like her?Read the full story here.

HMS Victory to be raised from sea.(AD).The remains of the first HMS Victory are to be raised from the sea bed nearly 300 years after it sank, it has been reported.The vessel, predecessor of Nelson's famous flagship, went down in a storm off the Channel Islands in 1744, taking more than 1,000 soldiers to their deaths.Along with a bronze cannon collection, some believe the ship was carrying a large quantity of gold coins from Lisbon to Britain, which would now be worth a reported £500 million.According to the Sunday Times, the wreck is to be handed over to the Maritime Heritage Foundation, which is expected to employ Odyssey Marine Exploration to carry out the recovery. The American company found the ship four years ago.A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "Efforts to protect key parts of British Naval history such as the wreck of HMS Victory 1744 are very welcome and we hope to make an announcement shortly."The guns and other artefacts will be displayed in British museums, while Odyssey is likely to receive the bulk of any treasure under the laws of salvage, the newspaper reported.The Maritime Heritage Foundation was set up by Lord Lingfield, the Tory peer formerly known as Sir Robert Balchin.He is a relative of Admiral Sir John Balchin who was on board the Victory when it sank, although he stressed he would not profit personally from the ship's cargo.Lord Lingfield told the Sunday Times: "The foundation seeks to prevent damage to this historically important site and maximise its archaeological, scientific and educational value."We hope it will give a unique insight into the world of the mid-18th century Royal Navy."Read the full story here.

What Happens The Day After Iran Tests the Bomb?(BPB).Iran will become an atomic weapons state because it already has the raw materials, technology, the ambition, and no single or group of nations is willing to do what is necessary to deny that outcome. Atomic weapons in the hands of the radical Islamic Republic of Iran has been “unacceptable” to both the Bush and Obama Administrations and most of our allies, especially Israel which considers the proposition an existential threat. Our “unacceptable” policy translated into half measures—weak sanctions, covert action, and military threats—to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But only two alternatives will stop Iran’s atomic weapons program: a popular uprising that installs a government which abandons atomic arms and foreign invasion. Neither alternative is likely which is why it is time to prepare for the day after Iran tests the bomb.
Before considering the “day after” it is helpful to appreciate Tehran’s bizarre motivation for atomic weapons, its hurried-up nuclear arms program, and why our half measures will inevitably fail.First, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ruled by clerics and devout Shi’ites who hate the West and is driven by an apocalyptic branch of Islam that believes its duty is to begin world war that brings the return of their Mahdi (messiah)—an Imam so powerful he will bring the world under Islamic rule. An atomic bomb is Iran’s war trigger.
Second, the regime is making rapid progress acquiring an atomic weapons capability. Last fall the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), announced evidence of Iran’s accelerating atomic weapons program. The agency’s report states Iran created computer models of nuclear explosions, conducted experiments on triggering a fissile reaction and completed advanced research on a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could be delivered by a medium-range missile.
Last week the IAEA confirmed Iran’s nuclear material enrichment program took a dangerous turn. The regime shifted its 20% uranium enrichment activities to the underground site at Fordow near the holy city of Qom, which offers protection against air strikes. By the end of this year Iran is expected to have more than enough 20% enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb which could quickly be turned into weapons-grade material (90%) in a month or less.
Finally, the West’s efforts to deny Tehran atomic weapons are doomed. Tehran’s opponents have been attempting for years to use a combination of diplomacy, sanctions, and covert action to persuade the mullahs to abandon the bomb. And now there is talk of limited military action which will also fail.
Years of increasingly tough economic sanctions failed to persuade Iran to abandon its atomic weapons program. Now the Obama administration is hosting the strongest sanctions yet which target the Central Bank of Iran, the main conduit of oil revenues. Those sanctions also target companies like China-based Zhuhai Zhenrong Co., the largest supplier of refined petroleum products to Iran.But these sanctions which enjoy international support are doomed because Russia and China refuse to fully cooperate. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of imposing sanctions “which go far beyond the boundaries of achieving nonproliferation objectives.” China, a major consumer of Iranian oil, threw cold water on the tougher sanctions as well.A Chinese ministry of commerce spokesman said China will not heed the U.S.’s request to sanction Iran because it “will do serious damage to China’s domestic economy.” Iran is China’s third-biggest source of oil, supplying more than 5% of total needs.
Covert operations are part of the West’s failing campaign to persuade Iran to abandon atomic arms as well. An American diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks listed “covert measure” as one of the pillars of Israel’s approach to Iran.
Iran alleges foreign covert operatives are responsible for assassinating five Iranian nuclear scientists, planting the Stuxnet computer worm to destroy enrichment centrifuges, and sabotaging a missile-testing site, near the nuclear facility at Isfahan. But such covert activities are not enough to stop Iran’s atomic program because it includes hundreds of people across many widely scattered facilities.
Military options are gaining attention especially now that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in mid-December that Iran can assemble a bomb within or year or even less. But those options are ultimately doomed as well. Three military options are likely under consideration: target Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities; target the weapons facilities and regime assets; and launch a 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq-like operation. We should immediately disabuse ourselves of the third option because the U.S. has no appetite for another land war in the Mideast.
A limited strike option to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities could have unintended consequences and only stall, not end, the Iranian nuclear drive. After all, America’s bombing effectiveness, the best in the world, is rapidly deteriorating because Iran is burying its atomic facilities out of reach for even our biggest conventional bombs like Boeing’s 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator.The second option would also target regime assets such as command centers to reduce Iran’s ability to retaliate. The goal would be to trigger an uprising that would topple the regime, an unlikely outcome.
But both options will earn quick retaliation. The mullahs will close the Strait of Hormuz through which 35% of the world’s seaborne oil passes daily, launch ballistic missiles at allied strategic facilities, conduct preplanned covert actions, and unleash its terrorist proxies like Hezbollah.Therefore, because sanctions, covert action, and limited military options are likely to fail we must prepare for the inevitable atomic Iran.
So what should we do? Last week, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), an Israeli think-tank that enjoys a particularly close relationship with the top echelons in Israel, conducted a simulation exercise to consider the “day after” scenario. It concludes that an Iranian nuclear test would radically shift the whole power balance of the Middle East. The INSS outlined what might occur the “day after.”The US would try to restrain Israel from military retaliation by proposing a formal defense pact, according to the INSS report. Then Russia would propose a defense pact with the U.S. to arrest regional nuclear proliferation in part to try specifically to prevent the Saudis from developing their own atomic arsenal. Meanwhile, the newly minted atomic Iran will demand new borders with Iraq and sovereignty over Bahrain.
But in an interesting twist, even though the simulation showed that Iran will not forgo nuclear weapons, Tehran “will attempt to use them to reach an agreement with the major powers that will improve its position.” That conclusion parallels an emerging perspective shared by some Israeli elite.Last year, Meir Dagan, the former head of Mossad (Israel’s intelligence organization), objected to an Israeli strike on Iran because it would engulf the region in war. Then last month he added that a nuclear Iran “did not necessarily threaten Israel.”
Two things are becoming obvious regarding Iran’s atomic quest. The U.S. has neither the will nor the international support to topple the regime and an Arab Spring-like Iranian revolution doesn’t appear likely either. What does appear likely is the grudging acceptance of an atomic armed Tehran, and a radically changed Middle East.Hmmmm.......Source BPB.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Senior Iranian parliamentary sources revealed on Saturday that
the Swiss envoy to Tehran has quoted US President Barack Obama as acknowledging Iran's nuclear rights.Swiss Ambassador to Tehran Livia Leu Agosti attended a meeting with senior Iranian foreign ministry officials a few days ago to submit a letter from the US president to Tehran leaders.
Vice-Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi told FNA that during the meeting, Agosti had told the Iranian officials that President Barack Obama recognizes Iran's right of access and use of the nuclear technology. "There are a couple of points with regard to this (US) message (to Iran),"Ebrahimi said and added, "Firstly, during the session to submit the message, the Swiss ambassador to Tehran quoted the US president as saying that 'we (the US) recognize your nuclear rights'."As regards the second issue, the lawmaker said that the Swiss diplomat had also quoted Obama as saying that "I didn't want to impose sanctions on your central bank but I had no options but to approve it since a Congress majority had approved the decision."Read the full story here.

Egyptian Election results.(BM).CAIRO: Abdel Moez Ibrahim, Head of the High Judicial Elections Commission, announced on Saturday that 15 of Egypt’s 27 political parties were guaranteed representation in Egypt’s newly elected parliament.His statements came during the official announcement of election results on Saturday.
The 15 parties given seats in the parliament include :

Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party,

the Ultra-Conservative Salafist Al Nour Party,

the Al Wafd Party,

the Egyptian Bloc,

Al Thawra Mostamera (The Revolution Continues),

Al Mawaten El Masri (The Egyptian Citizen),

the Reform and Development Party,

Al Wasat,

the Conservative Party,

the Justice Party,

the Democratic Peace,

the Freedom Party,

the Union Party,

and the Masr El Kawmi Party.

He added that there are 21 parties that were excluded from representation in Parliament because they garnered less than the minimum 0.5 of the nationwide vote required for representation.He said that the total number of valid votes at the level of the republic for the proportional list system (coalition of parties) amounted to 28.85107 million votes.The Freedom and Justice Party managed to garner 127 seats, with the al-Nour Party earning 96, the Al Wafd with 36, the Egyptian Bloc with 33 and the Revolution Continues with 7.Hmmmm......I only count 14? "Democratic" - characterized by or advocating or based upon the principles of democracy or social equality.Copts represent about 9%, other Christian 1%of the population.Read the full story here.

Other than the two reports particularly the chilling death of over 54,000 Nigerians outside the law since 1999, our further investigations show that up to 510 Igbo Christians may have been slaughtered by politically and ethnically backed “Boko-Haram” Terror Sect in different parts of the Northern Nigeria, from January 2011 to January 2012. This did not include the Jos killings of 2011, where it is believed that up to 400 Igbo Christian traders alone including 48 of them (killed on 8th day of January 2011 at Dilimi and Bauchi Road Markets in Jos) died, out of over 1000 people killed. According to the Associated Press account, at least, 510 people (most of them Igbo Christians) were killed by Boko-Haram Terror Sect in 2011. In the past three weeks that is to say between 22nd day of December 2011 and 13th day of January 2012, at least 300 innocent Nigerians have been killed. This includes about 60 people including Christmas returnees trapped and slaughtered on Enugu-Abakiliki Road on 31st day of December 2011 as well as 35 Nigerians (rights groups’ account) killed countrywide by over-zealous security forces during the national protests and strikes over “petroleum subsidy removal”. The Inspector General of Police claims that eleven people including two security operatives were killed during the protests.

Strictly speaking Your Excellency, in the past three weeks (22-12-2011-13-01-2012), according to respected local and international media, up to 204 innocent Nigerian Christians including, at least, 150 Igbo Christians have been murdered by “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect. And out of at least 510 people murdered by the violent Islamist Sect in 2011 (Associated Press), at least 350 of them are Igbo Christians. The targeted and systematic killing of Igbo Christians stems from age-long ethnic hatred, disproportionate police protection, and gross insecurity in the Igbo residential and trading areas of the North as well as Igbo pastoralism (migration). Available statistics from the media concerning the 204 “Boko-Haram” Sect’s killings in the past three weeks show that on 22nd day of December 2011, at least six people (Igbo Christians) were slaughtered in Damaturu, Yobe State, Northeast Nigeria; on 23rd day of December 2011, at least 68 people including (many) Igbo Christians, police personnel and soldiers were killed in bomb blasts believed to have been detonated by violent “Boko-Haram” Sect in Damaturu, Yobe State.
On 25th day of December 2011, at least 35 parishioners including over 25 Igbo Christians and two passers-by (Muslims) were massacred at St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla in Suleja, Niger State, North-central Nigeria. The chilling deaths resulted from bombs detonated by the violent “Boko-Haram” Islamist Sect. At least ten more people mainly Igbo Christians were killed in bomb blasts that hit churches in Jos, Plateau State, North-central Nigeria and Gadaka, in Yobe State, Northeast Nigeria.

Lastly Your Excellency, as a party to the Statute for International Criminal Court, which Nigeria ratified in 2001, we demand that Your Excellency writes and invites the new Chief Prosecutor for International Criminal Court, Madam Fatou Bensaida and her team to Nigeria to commence investigations into these chilling killings, particularly the slaughtering of Igbo Christians in the North, as well as the Jos killings, so as to truly unmask those involved, whether they are in government, ethnic or religious enclaves. This is in line with the recent public statement issued by Madam Navanethen Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is also in accordance with relevant provisions of the ICC Statute and the Charter of the United Nations. Read the full story here.

Related : Boko Haram And The Threat Of Political Islam.(SaharaReporters).By By Leo Igwe.Nigeria’s most deadly islamic sect, Boko Haram, has just exploded mutiple bombs in the city of Kano. Curfew has been imposed and the city- the state and the entire nation is engulfed in tension, fear and uncertainty with some 80 corpses in a morgue and bodies in the streets on Saturday .This group appears unrelenting in its murderous campaign.
Kano has joined the ranks of northern states-Bornu, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau, Niger where the terror of Boko Haram holds sway. Religious crisis orchestrated by muslim fundamentalists is not new to this northern city but these attacks have brought a frightening dimension to islamic militancy in the region.Unfortunately, most analysts continue to shy away from the truth- the bitter truth that Boko Haram is an islamist group with a political agenda. Boko Haram is a jihadist organization that has declared war against anybody that is really or imagined to be opposed to its cause. Even when the group has made it clear that they are opposed to western education and want sharia implemented in Nigeria. Boko Haram militants are not asking for jobs. They are not agitating for any finacial reward or compensation. Their cause is religious. Thier agenda is islamists.They are just a bunch of islamic militants and nihilists who want to turn Nigeria into an islamic empire by force.We in Nigeria must stop decieving ourselves by saying that the Boko Haram attacks have nothing to do with religion. Or that they have nothing to do with Islam. This is not true. Though people can carry out such heinous attacks for other reasons, or be motivated by other secular causes. From the pattern of their attacks, the Boko Haram phenomenon has a lot to do with religion particularly islam. It is the Nigerian version of al Qaeda. The militants are not bombing police stations, UN building and churches for the sake of it. They are not agitating for sharia law for the fun of it. The Boko Haram militants are fighting a holy war. They are prosecuting a jihad for which they expect to be rewarded abundantly in the hereafter with some virgins. That is why the group has not run out of suicide bombers. That is why they have their operational base in the muslim majority states. Boko Haram militants have been brainwashed by few islamic clerics to believe that they are 'Hezbollah'- the army of Allah. They have been deluded to think that these suicide bomb attacks and other murderous acts they carry out are religious duties in line with the will of Allah and in furtherance of Islam. Nigerian authorities must acknowledge and address the ‘islamic’ roots of the Boko Haram menace now, before it is too late. Read the full story here.

Wielding a blow-dryer, leading atheist Edwin Kagin conducted a mass "de-baptism" of fellow non-believers and symbolically dried up the offending waters that were sprinkled on their foreheads as young children. Hmmmm......"Please Lord have mercy, for they themselves do not know what they are seeking".

Voluntary 'De-Baptism' Rising in Europe.(Voanews).Sunday evening youth mass in Saint-Germain-des-Pres is overflowing with parishioners. People stand in aisles or sit cross-legged in corners of the cavernous, sixth century Paris church.Father Benoist de Sinety, parish priest at Saint Germain for the past three years, says he has always had the good fortune of seeing crowds of young people seeking their bearings or rediscovering faith. But he knows it is not the same everywhere.Churches in France and elsewhere in Europe have been battling falling numbers, a trend evident not only in the empty pews, but in the sharp fall in baptisms. But "de-baptisms", a church's deletion of one's name from the official baptismal registry at a parishioner's request, are a recent phenomenon, and they are taking place in both Protestant and Catholic communities.
There are no official statistics, but experts and activists count the numbers of those seeking de-baptism in the tens of thousands, and websites offering informal "de-baptism" certificates have mushroomed.
Anne Morelli, who heads a center for religion and secularity studies at the Free University of Brussels, says de-baptisms, both official and unofficial, increased in 2011, particularly in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Austria. The numbers, she said, reflect public anger at the church pedophilia scandals.
Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society in Britain, agrees. "I think what sparked the real desire of people to leave the church, particularly the Catholic church, were the huge child-abuse scandals that revolted so many people [that] they no longer wanted to be associated with it," he said. "That's when people started to leave in large numbers."A decade ago, Sanderson's society posted an unofficial "de-baptism certificate" on its website, which has been downloaded more than 100,000 times to date."It was a joke to begin with, but now it has taken on a new significance because there are so many people who are anxious to leave the church that they are actually taking it seriously now, and they want some way to make their break with the church formal," he says. "Often the church won't acknowledge their desire to leave."
But Christian Weisner, a spokesman for the international grassroots We Are Church movement, points not only to a range of issues that have resulted in de-baptism, but a range methods by which people choose to sever ties to the church.In Germany, where a record 181,000 Catholics formally split from the church in 2011, some terminated their relations by legally opting out of paying state church taxes. For the first time, he says, more German Catholics cut ties to their church last year than Protestants.
"They are thinking about leaving the church and there might be one special event, like the pedophilia crisis, like a [conservative] announcement by the pope, and then they decide now is the time to go," says Weisner, referring to the fact that some Catholics oppose Pope Benedict's stances on issues like abortion, homosexuality and married priests.In France, 71-year-old Rene Lebouvier decided it was time to go a decade ago. After requesting to have his name crossed off his church's baptismal registry, he ultimately filed a lawsuit to have it legally deleted. In October, a lower court in Normandy ruled in his favor, but a local bishop is appealing the verdict. According to religion professor Philippe Portier of the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, Lebouvier's case could set a legal precedent in a country where few seek to be de-baptized."It will be the first time in Europe, and especially in France, that the church will be obliged to delete from its registers the name of churchgoers who do not want to be considered as church goers," he says.
While Portier doubts the appeals court will rule in Lebouvier's favor, France's Catholic Church will not comment on the court case.Read the full story here.

Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Northern Mariana Islands 5.1 !More info here.

Translating Zero Hedge: Your Wages Will Be Cut In Half.(VidRebel).Yesterday Zero Hedge ran a story that most people will never see or really understand. Zero Hedge reported that the Russians have sold off half of their US Treasury bonds over the past year. China has been dumping their dollar holdings too but still have over a trillion dollars left. Other foreigners have been dumping their dollars too. The current US inflation rate is 12%. Ben Bernanke has been creating trillions of dollars to bail out banks in Europe, to buy worthless securities from US banks and to fund the US debt. That will accelerate inflation. Inflation will go from 12% to 15% and then 20% in less than a year. The media will no longer be able to repeat the lie that the inflation rate is only 3 1/2%. Inflation will become an issue in the 2012 races for congress, Senate and the presidency.Accelerating inflation will force people overseas to dump any dollars they receive for selling Americans food, clothes, electronics, cars, oil and other raw materials as soon the transaction is completed. This phenomenon is called an increase in the velocity of money. It is a sign your economy is transitioning from an inconveniently high rate of inflation to hyperinflation. The US dollar is an international reserve currency which means that if France wants to buy food from Brazil they will likely have to use US dollars to make that transaction.I would define hyperinflation as beginning at 25% for an international reserve currency like the dollar. That is why when inflation surged in the latter part of the Carter presidency (1979-1980) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker raised interest rates. Home mortgages went to 15 1/2%. Ben Bernanke cannot raise interest rates today. His only option would be to devalue the dollar which is what he said he would do in that now infamous speech he made in Washington DC on 11-21-2002.That means after the 2012 elections the Russians, the Chinese, Iran, Venezuela plus their clients states and a few other nations can and will force a devaluation of the dollar by refusing to accept Federal Reserve Notes in international trade. If Americans balk, China just has to dump a hundred billion dollars and buy commodities driving the price of food out of the reach of WalMart shoppers. Of course I realize the Chinese will just be doing what the bankers want them to do. An international conference will be held at which the dollar will be devalued by about 40% as predicted by Bernanke. This will complete that 50% pay cut I have been predicting.The Chinese will have dumped most of their dollars before the conference so that their economy will not be harmed by a dollar devaluation. If Americans can’t afford to buy Chinese products, China will just sell them to people whose currencies were revalued upwards.I would suggest you buy storable food, silver coins (not collectibles) and household items that will just increase in cost.Hmmmmm......He promised "CHANGE" now you get what you voted for!Read the full story here.

FOIA Documents Show Obama Justice Department Coordinating Voter Registration Drives With ACORN’s Project Vote.(DCExaminer).. . . Readers will also recall that ACORN activists have long been involved in voter registration fraud, either directly or through its Project Vote affiliate. At least 70 ACORN/Project Vote employees have been convicted of voter registration fraud in a dozen states since 2006. According to a 2009 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report, approximately a third of the 1.2 million new registrations turned in by the two groups in 2008 were fraudulent.Despite all this, documents obtained recently by Judicial Watch via the Freedom of Information Act suggest that President Obama — who was employed by Project Vote as a community organizer early in his career — and Attorney General Eric Holder have no qualms about working closely with present and former ACORN and Project Vote operatives on voter registration drives aimed at people on public assistance. Take, for example, an April 2009 letter to deputy assistant attorney general Sam Hirsh from former ACORN attorney and current Project Vote director of advocacy Estelle Rogers. She described preparations for a subsequent meeting about Department of Justice plans concerning National Voter Registration Act litigation in states deemed not being sufficiently aggressive in registering public assistance recipients.Among those to be included in the meeting, according to the Rogers letter, were Nicole Kovite, director of the public agency project for Project Vote; Spencer Overton, deputy assistant attorney general for legal policy; Cecilia Munoz, then-director of intergovernmental affairs in the Obama White House; and Tino Cuellar, special assistant to the president for justice and regulatory policy. Munoz was recently promoted to chief domestic advisor to Obama.Hmmmm.......Thugocracy in it's natural habitat?Read the full story here.

Success story #4,035 for Obama open border policies: beheadings in U.S. "look like work of drug cartels".(DougRoss).But remember, folks: the border "is as safe as it's ever been" (in the words of DHS Chief Janet Napolitano).Except for those pesky beheadings here in the U.S.:Three beheadings in two different states and they happened here in the United States, not Mexico. Former DEA supervisor Phil Jordan says all three beheadings have cartel written all over them. They happened in Arizona and Oklahoma in the past year.A murder mystery is now unraveling on a stretch of North Reservation Road in Tucson, Ariz. County workers found a headless man lying on the side of the road Jan. 6. The man's hands and feet were reportedly missing, too. "It would lead me to believe the message wanted to be sent. This is one of the ways they do it in Mexico, Colombia and other places," says Jordan... Jordan says the cartels are getting bolder in carrying out their beheadings across the border. He says we only used to see these crimes in Mexico....More than 600 miles from the border, a 19-year-old human trafficking victim was found beheaded in Oklahoma. Carina Saunders was stuffed into a bag and left in a grocery store parking lot....Investigators in Chandler, Ariz., say cartel operatives came from Mexico to kill 38-year-old Martin Alejandro Cota Monroy. His beheaded body was found in his apartment."One is too many; two is too many. Three should send an alarm," says Jordan.You know what I would do if I were Attorney General Eric Holder?That's right -- I'd sue states for enforcing federal immigration law. No matter how many murders, kidnappings, rapes, drug- and human smuggling operations, and related violence that American citizens must suffer.Because Democrats need the votes, man. They need the votes!Read the full story here.

US Jewish publisher regrets Obama hit scenario.(JPost).A Jewish newspaper publisher in the US apologized on Friday for suggesting in a column published last week that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu consider deploying Mossad agents to assassinate US President Barack Obama.Atlanta Jewish News owner and publisher Andrew Adler suggested that Netanyahu deploy Mossad agents to “take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel” in the case that Iran got a nuclear weapon.In his column he listed three options for Israel to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons. The first was to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah and Hamas and the second was to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. The third, according to Adler, was to “give the go-ahead for US-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.” “Yes, you read 'three' correctly," the publisher continued. "Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If have thought of this Tom-Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?” In an interview with JTA Friday, Adler expressed contrition for his column."I very much regret it, I wish I hadn't made reference to it at all," Adler said of a presidential assassination.He also told the Internet site Gawker, which first reported on his column, that he had published his piece to see what kind of reaction he’d get from readers but that he in no way endorsed such action or thought Israel was considering it.According to JTA, the many calls and emails he received were overwhelmingly negative.The Anti-Defamation League strongly condemned the column, with National Director Abraham Foxman saying in a statement, “There is absolutely no excuse, no justification, no rationalization for this kind of rhetoric. It doesn’t even belong in fiction. These are irresponsible and extremist words. It is outrageous and beyond the pale. An apology cannot possibly repair the damage.”Read the full story here.

DEMOCRAPOLA!(AM).Myth: Democracy elected Hitler to power.Democracy is not perfect what so ever. It has so many flaws and yet there are many positives to it. Adolf Hitler knew of its flaws and used it to get himself into power. Nobody expected him to do what he did.Read the full story here.

US mulls closing embassy in Syria as security worsens.(JPost).WASHINGTON - The United States warned on Friday that it may soon close its embassy in Syria due to the worsening security situation, a move that could exacerbate tensions between Washington and Damascus over its bloody crackdown on protests."While no decision has been made, we have serious concerns about the deteriorating security situation in Damascus," the State Department said in a written statement."We have also advised the Syrian government that unless concrete steps are taken in the coming days, we may have no choice but to close the mission," the statement continued. The US threat came as the White House said it believed Syrian President Bashar Assad no longer had full control over the country, an escalation of US rhetoric against Damascus after 10 months of unrest.One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Syrian government did not have much time to address US security concerns."We want something to happen sooner rather than later," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that the decision to shutter the embassy could come soon.Closing the embassy -- while not tantamount to formally severing diplomatic ties -- would sharply reduce direct communications between Damascus and Washington, which has led a campaign of international sanctions against Syria while making clear it has no appetite for military action.White House spokesman Jay Carney repeated on Friday a US call for Assad to halt a bloody crackdown on protesters and to step down, saying his fall was "inevitable" and suggesting that his grip on power was slipping."It is clear that's his regime is no longer in full control ... of the country, and is only taking Syria toward a dangerous end," Carney said. "There has been defections of senior military officials and a parliamentary representative recently."But he gave no further backing for the US claim, saying only that these developments demonstrate momentum against Assad.Read the full story here.

A Third US Aircraft Carrier arrives In Waters Off Iran Amid Threat To Block Strait Of Hormuz.(RTT).The USS Abraham Lincoln joined its sister ship, the carrier USS John Stennis, to test Iran's warning against any carrier sailing through the Persian Gulf.The United States has sent another aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea off the Strait of Hormuz amid Iran's threat that it would block the vital shipping route for oil tankers carrying Gulf oil to the rest of the world.The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Arabian Sea on Thursday to replace USS John Stennis, which has left the region through the western Pacific. USS Abraham Lincoln, along with USS Carl Vinson, forms the U.S. Navy's standard two-carrier strike group in the Middle East, under the control of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.Although the U.S. Navy portrayed it as part of a normal rotation and not a deliberate buildup of force, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at a Pentagon news conference on Wednesday that the U.S. military was now "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Gulf avenue for international oil shipments.The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, and all American ships to return to their base must go through the Strait of Hormuz, the bottleneck between Oman and Iran. The U.S. Defense Department had already made it clear that its warships would continue to remain in the Persian Gulf at all cost despite the Iranian threat. Read the full story here.

GOP Officially Endorses One-State Solution.(MitchellPlitnick).Last week in New Orleans, the Republican National Committee officially adopted a resolution supporting a one-state solution in Israel-Palestine.This news came to me via a very trusted source, but both I and my source were puzzled by the fact that we could find nothing in the media confirming this. I called the RNC, but they would neither confirm nor deny.So, I contacted Cindy Costa, the RNC’s National Committeewoman from South Carolina who was listed as the sponsor of the resolution. Here’s our e-mail exchange: Me: Dear Ms. Costa,

I am a correspondent for several web-based news outlets, including Inter Press Service. I received the resolution below today, and would like to write an article about it. I just wanted to check with you that this was in fact an officially adopted RNC resolution. Can you please let me know? Thanks.

Costa: Yes it was adopted unanimously by the RNC last Friday at our winter meeting in New Orleans. CindySo, that seems pretty clear. I reprint the entire text of the resolution below (and I sent it fully to Ms. Costa so she could confirm the full text), but the key passage is this one: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.I don’t see how anyone could read that as anything but a statement in support of a one-state solution. The RNC officially supports not only continued Israeli possession of all the land it currently controls, but advocates “one law for all people,” which does not exist now.Israelis behind the Green Line live under Israeli law. So do settlers. But Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem are subject to a conglomeration of laws based on previous Jordanian law from before 1967, Israeli emergency laws and military regulations mostly adopted after 1967, and even some measure of old Ottoman laws, these particularly applied in East Jerusalem.So, there is no interpretation possible other than that the RNC is also advocating complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank, including granting citizenship to the Palestinians living there.So, here is the full text of the resolution adopted last week by the RNC. There’s plenty more that rational people will find disturbing in it, whatever your views on Israel-Palestine:

AN RNC RESOLUTION TO COMMEND THE NATION OF ISRAEL FOR ITS RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WHEREAS, Israel has been granted her lands under and through the oldest recorded deed as reported in the Old Testament, a tome of scripture held sacred and reverenced by Jew and Christian, alike, as the acts and words of God; and

WHEREAS, as the Grantor of said lands, God stated to the Jewish people in the Old Testament; in Leviticus, Chapter 20, Verse 24: “Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey”; and

WHEREAS, God has never rescinded his grant of said lands; and

WHEREAS, along with the grant of said lands to the Jewish people, God provided for the non-Jewish residents of the land in commanding that governance must be in one law for all without drawing distinction between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, as contained in Leviticus 24:22, and

WHEREAS, the Nation of Israel declared its independent control and governance of said lands on May 14, 1948, with the goal of re-establishing their God-given lands as a homeland for the Jewish people; and

WHEREAS, the United States of America, having been the first country to recognize Israel as an independent nation and as Israel’s principal Mideast ally, has enjoyed a close and mutually beneficial relationship with Israel and her people; and

WHEREAS, indeed, Israel is the United States of America’s greatest friend in the Mideast; and

WHEREAS, the roots of Israel and the roots of the United States of America are so intertwined that it is difficult to separate one from the other under the word and protection of almighty God; and

WHEREAS, there are those in the Middle East who have sought to destroy Israel from its inception as anation; and

WHEREAS, those same enemies of Israel also seek to destroy the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, the United States of America and the nation of Israel have enjoyed cordial and mutually beneficial relations since 1948, a friendship that should continues to strengthen with each passing year.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Republican Nation Committee that the committee by this resolution commends the nation of Israel for its relations with the United States of America.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate Leadership and each of the legislatures of the states within the United States of America with the request and recommendation of this body that a similar resolution to that stated herein be proposed within their respective bodies.Sponsor–Cindy Costa National Committeewoman South Carolina.Read the full story here.

Napolitano's meeting with cops from across the nation was all flash, but no substance, say her critics. (Examiner).By Jim Kouri.Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan today at the White House met with senior state, local and tribal law enforcement officials to discuss the President Barack Obama's Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States. What surprised many of the attendees was the fact that not once did Napolitano mention Islamic extremism or Muslim terrorists. Many of the police commanders attending found the presentation to be a "vague and politically correct" exercise. Those invited were sheriffs and chiefs of police from states, cities and counties throughout the U.S., including representativesfrom the organizations such as International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, National Sheriffs’ Association, National Native American Law Enforcement Association, Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council,Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, and others. “Engaging local communities is critical to our nation’s effort to counter violent extremism and violent crime, and this meeting brings together many of our partners,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to collaborate with our state and local law enforcement partners and engage the public in our efforts to combat violent extremism, while protecting civil rights and civil liberties.” But throughout the meeting, it was noticeable that was no mention of Islamic terrorists -- including homegrown radicalized American Muslims - during the Obama White House meeting. Secretary Napolitano discussed her department's support of local communities by enhancing already existing partnerships of federal, state and local law enforcement such as joint task forces, but she neglected to discuss Joint Terrorism Task Forces,such as the successful group of New York City police officers and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "I find it astounding how [Secretary] Napolitano could be so longwinded yet never once used the words "Islamic,""Islamists," "Muslim terrorists," or any names of known terror groups. It's as if Holder and Napolitano never read the report issued by the House Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Congressman Peter King during 2011, said one of the attendees who requested anonymity since his superior is a Democrat mayor. Rep. King of New York endured much criticism for holding a series of hearings as part of his probe of homegrown Islamic terrorism and so-called "lone wolf" terrorists. Napolitano mentioned expanding government grants to counter violent extremism and violent crime regardless of ideology,but neglected to mention religious extremism as practiced by al-Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Hamas, Hezbollah, Army of Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood. The former Arizona governor stated that "DHS is continuing to implement recommendations from the DHS Homeland Security Advisory Council Countering Violent Extremism Working Group, such as developing a curriculum for state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement focused on a community-oriented policing approach to countering violent extremism and violent crime." Her priority however was the DHS’ Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties which she said is dedicated to educatingcommunities and state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement on cultural awareness across the nation."Cultural awareness? How about the fact Islamic terrorists want to murder Americans and destroy the Western world and its practice of pluralism and religious freedom?" asks attorney and political strategist Mike Baker. During her presentation, Secretary Napolitano reiterated President Obama’s call for Congress to take action to prevent layoffs of law enforcement and first responders, and keep our communities safe by passing legislation such as the American Jobs Act. The legislation would provide $5 billion in assistance to states and local communities to create or save thousands of law enforcement and first responder jobs across the country. DHS has also collaborated with federal, state, local, and private sector partners, and the general public, to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign. Originally implemented by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and now licensed to DHS for a nationwide campaign, the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign is a simple and effective program to engage the public to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities, said Napolitano. "Unfortunately, Napolitano failed to give examples of "when you see what, what do you say and to whom do you say it"in light of the Obama Administration's broad definition of 'racial profiling,'" Baker said.Hmmmm........."If you know your enemy and you know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle." ~ The Art of War by Sun Tzu.Read the full story here.

Knesset members who met with Hamas should move to Gaza'.(Ynet).Reports revealing that additional Arab members of Knesset had met with Hamas figures in the West Bank stirred a storm in the halls of parliament on Friday, some MKs calling to have their immunity removed immediately and their parties disqualified."If Arab members of Knesset sanctify martyrdom so much, they should become martyrs themselves and serve as role models," said MK Miri Regev (Likud). "Then, they'll make room for the Arab public to elect more suitable representatives and not terror supporters," she added. On Thursday, Ynet reported that a photo of MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) alongside four known Hamas members was uncovered during an IDF raid on Hamas offices in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.The photo, taken in June 2009 depicts a smiling Zoabi alongside Hamas parliamentary speaker Aziz Dwaik – the movement's most senior representative in the West Bank – and Mariam Saleh, the former minister of women's affairs in Hamas government in Gaza. On Friday it was revealed that two United Arab List-Ta'al MKs had also met with the Hamas figures earlier. Masud Ganaim and Ibrahim Sarsur visited the home of Dwaik, 64, to offer their support after he was released from an Israeli prison in June 2009. Dwaik was arrested again on Thursday.MK Anastasia Michaeli, who was suspended from Knesset after she spilled a glass of water on MK Raleb Majadele during a Knesset discussion called for the "immediate establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry."Michaeli added that "these criminals' immunity must be revoked immediately as well as their wages. We must act firmly against them for betraying the State of Israel. We must also make sure that this sort of betrayal leads to the disqualification of such parties." MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) said he will approach the Knesset's legal adviser "to examine whether their acts constitute harm to the state's security and a breach of trust as well as support of a terrorist organization – offenses that will prevent them from serving as members of Knesset," he said.Kadima MK Ronit Tirosh added that Ganaim and Sarsur "should resign and move to Gaza to sit with their friends from Hamas."Earlier on Friday, Ganaim and Sarsur claimed the meeting was legitimate as the people concerned were "political figures fighting against the occupation."MK Ganaim said, "We visited the house together with several other members of the Palestinian council. Hamas was legally and legitimately elected in what the whole world admitted were just elections and we went to visit the officials after they were released from jail."Referring to claims they were in contact with figures who were jailed for aiding terror, Ganaim said: "As political figures they should never have been arrested. Our arrival there was not in violation of the law. I, as a Knesset member or a private person, am allowed to visit a person who was wrongly arrested. It has never been proven they were involved in the alleged activity. They have a right as occupied individuals to fight for life in dignity."Read the full story here.

Ankara looks for no Iranian oil options.(HurriyetDaily).By Serkan Demirtaş.In light of sanctions proposed by the US against Iranian crude oil exports, Turkey is working on a plan to avert difficulties on the matter. A working group has been formed to analyze the situation ahead of FM’s crucial visit to Washington.Turkey is working on a plan to avert the political and economic difficulties it could face as a result of the Washington-proposed sanctions against Iranian crude oil exports, which make up nearly one third of the country’s daily consumption. Though Turkish officials voiced their intention to seek exemption from sanctions, (as they would only abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions), the government is weighing various ways to gradually reduce Iranian oil imports, including by using Saudi Arabia and Russia as potential alternative suppliers. The United States imposed a fresh round of sanctions against financial institutions dealing with the Iranian Central Bank late December, aimed at hampering Iran’s crude oil exports to international markets. The U.S. is threatening to impose sanctions on the financial institutions of other countries if they “engage in a financial transaction for the sale or purchase of petroleum or petroleum products to or from Iran after 180 days of the enactment of the law,” signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 31, 2011. In official remarks, Turkey has openly said it would only implement sanctions if they were imposed by the U.N. Security Council but also added it would consider seeking an exemption from measures against Iran given its unique position. However, despite whether Turkey abides, the law will have a direct effect on Turkish financial institutions as a result of the country’s nearly 9 million tons of crude oil purchases from Iran. The country’s sole refiner, Tüpraş, renewed the deal to buy the same amount of oil from Iran in 2012, but Reuters reported that it was planning to meet Saudi Arabian oil authorities this month in order to secure an alternative supply. Tüpraş did not comment on the story late Friday.Turkey has two ways to protect its financial institutions from being imposed with sanctions by the United States. Sanctions will not be imposed on the financial institutions of a country if it significantly reduces the volume of crude oil purchased from Iran in the designated time frame, or if the price and supply of petroleum and petroleum products in countries other than Iran is sufficient. Obama is set to submit reports every 180 days to analyze the global situation. The second way is to get a waiver from the U.S. administration, under certain conditions, for a limited time of not more than 120 days. Even if Turkey could get a waiver it would only be valid for two terms of 120 days, as described by the law. Under these conditions, Turkey has not officially demanded a waiver from the U.S., as sources expect this will be one of the top issues during Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s trip to Washington in the first half of February.Amid ongoing discussions over sanctions against Iran, Ankara and Tehran signed a deal late Thursday to increase their trade volume to $30 billion by 2015. Apart from commitments to further deepen cooperation in the field of energy, Urban Planning and Environment Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar said the two countries were working on improving cooperation in the banking system. “Work is underway for Turkey to enter the Iranian banking system and for Iran to enter the Turkish banking system. We plan very important steps on money transfer,” he said, without giving details.However, cooperation with Iran on the banking system seems to be unlikely, as Turkish financial institutions have been directly warned that engaging in such transactions from or to Iran will put their business with the American companies in danger.Hmmmm.....Sanctions that benefit Obama's prefered buddy Turkey?Can NATO trust Turkey?Read the full story here.

Netanyahu: Iran has decided to become a nuclear state. Action needed before it is too late.(Debka).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Thursday night, Jan. 19 that Iran had decided to become a nuclear state. He urged action before it was too late to stop Iran completing the construction of a nuclear weapon. His statement at the end of a visit to Holland gave Gen Martin Dempsey, on his first visit to Israel as Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the message he will be asked to take back to President Barack Obama. It also contradicted Defense Minister Ehud Barak's statement that Tehran had not yet decided to go nuclear.Netanyahu has kept the Iranian cards close to his chest. His statement therefore caught wrong-footed the Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who in the last 48 hours had asserted that Iran had not yet decided whether to build a nuclear bomb and there was still time for US-led sanctions to work.Gen. Martin Dempsey begins his first visit to Israel as Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff amid a major falling-out between the two governments over the handling of Iran's nuclear weapon potential. debkafile's military and Washington sources confirm that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands by the view that Iran is advancing its plans to build a nuclear bomb full speed ahead, undeterred even by the threat of harsher sanctions. Netanyahu therefore stands by his refusal of President Barack Obama's demand for a commitment to abstain from a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear sites without prior notice to Washington.The US president repeated this demand when he called the Israeli prime minister Thursday night Jan. 13. Netanyahu replied that, in view of their disagreement on this point, he preferred to cancel the biggest US-Israel war game ever staged due to have taken place in April. The exercise was to have tested the level of coordination between the two armies in missile defense for the contingency of a war with Iran or a regional conflict.The prime minister was concerned that having large-scale US military forces in the country would restrict his leeway for decision-making on Iran.debkafile's sources doubt that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu are in any mood to respond to Barak's effort to cool the dispute. Obama needs to be sure he will not be taken by surprise by an Israel attack in the middle of his campaign for re-election, especially since he has begun taking heat on the Iranian issue.Republican rivals are accusing him of being soft on Iran. And while the economy is the dominant election issue, a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of Iran's nuclear ambitions by a margin of 48 to 33 percent according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll this week.Wednesday (Thursday morning Israel time), President Obama responded by reiterating that he has been clear since running for the presidency that he will take "every step available to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."Echoes of Barak's arguments were heard in the words of US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Wednesday night: "We are not making any special steps at this point in order to deal with the situation. Why? Because, frankly, we are fully prepared to deal with that situation now."Panetta went on to say that Defense Minister Barak contacted him and asked to postpone the joint US-Israeli drill "for technical reasons."Before he took off for a short trip to Holland, Netanyahu instructed Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz not to deviate in their talks with Gen. Dempsey from the position he took with the US president, namely, no commitment for advance notice to Washington about a unilateral strike against Iran.The Israeli prime minister is convinced that, contrary to the claims by US spokesmen and media, that current sanctions are ineffective insofar as slowing Iran's advance toward a nuclear weapon and the harsher sanctions on Iran's central bank and oil exports are too slow and will take hold too late to achieve their purpose.Netanyahu fears that dialogue between Iran and the five powers plus Germany (the P5+1) will resume after bowing to an Iranian stipulation that sanctions be suspended for the duration of the talks. Once again, Tehran will be enabled to steal a march on the US and Israel and bring its nuclear weapon program to conclusion, unhindered by economic constraints.Hmmmmm.........."Pour les vaincre, messieurs, il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace et la Patrie sera sauvée!"~ Danton. Read the full story here.

Longtime Hamas leader Mashaal asks to quit.(AP).GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal has decided not to seek another term, the movement said Saturday, paving the way for a possible leadership contest at a time when the anti-Israeli Islamic group faces far-reaching decisions on whether to stay the course of militancy or moderate.However, Hamas suggested Mashaal could be asked to stay on, in what would be a boost for his more pragmatic line.Mashaal could not be reached for comment Saturday, but his decision not to seek another term as head of Hamas' political bureau was confirmed in a Hamas statement. Mashaal, who like other top Hamas leaders is based in Syria, has led the 15-member bureau since 1996, or nearly twice as long as permitted under Hamas rules.Hamas said Saturday the final decision on Mashaal's future will be left to the 55-member Shura Council, which oversees the political bureau and authorizes key decisions. Mashaal was last reaffirmed in his post in April 2009, and it is not clear if and when the Shura Council would appoint a successor.Word of Mashaal's decision comes at a time of change in Hamas' relationship with its parent movement, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood has scored election victories in Egypt and Tunisia following the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring over the past year, and has urged Hamas to moderate.Brotherhood leaders have encouraged Mashaal to pursue reconciliation with Palestinian rival Fatah, led by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and to abandon violence, according to several Hamas figures.In discussions within Hamas, Mashaal has praised the pragmatism of the Brotherhood and proposed that Hamas take steps toward becoming a strictly political movement, rather than also maintaining a parallel military wing. This would eventually require a decision to halt attacks on Israel, something Hamas has so far avoided.In recent months, Mashaal has led attempts to reconcile with Fatah, although he has encountered some opposition from senior Hamas activists in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamists since they seized the territory from Abbas in 2007. The Gaza branch of Hamas would likely lose jobs and influence in any reconciliation deal.Mashaal is to meet with Abbas in Cairo early next month to try to move bumpy reconciliation efforts forward. The rivals had previously agreed to hold general elections in the Palestinian territories in late spring, but smaller gestures, such as mutual prisoner releases, have not yet been carried out, suggesting continued distrust.Some in Fatah expressed concern Saturday that a Hamas leadership change could put reconciliation on hold."Mashaal had a significant role in pursuing reconciliation," said Amin Maqboul, a Fatah negotiator in the talks with Hamas. "We hope that his successor takes the same path, particularly ... since there are some forces in Hamas in Gaza who are not interested in reconciliation."Raed Naerat, a West Bank-based Hamas expert, said he expects the movement to stay on Mashaal's current course, arguing that his policies have been endorsed by the collective leadership.Some said the Arab Spring may be influencing Mashaal's strategy."With this step, Mashaal wanted to emphasize that Hamas is a democratic movement, but the final decision will be made by the Shura Council," said Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas figure in Gaza who spoke to Mashaal earlier in the week.Hmmmmm.........Read the full story here.

Egypt: Female former member of Muslim Brotherhood tells all.(DocsTalk).Jihad Watch.Surprise! It's a self-serving, dysfunctional organization. "In memoir, ex-Muslim Sister paints an unflattering picture," by Noha El Hennawy for Al Masry Al Youm, January 16 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): As the Muslim Brotherhood strives to project the image of a moderate and democratic political organization, a book featuring the angry account of a former member has hit the market."The Memoirs of a Former Sister: My Story with the Muslim Brotherhood" is the testimony of Intissar Abdel Moneim, an Alexandria-based novelist and author. With a compelling style and sharp language, the book takes the reader on a journey exploring the internal politics of the 83-year-old organization, placing special emphasis on discrimination against female members. Throughout her work, Abdel Moneim decries the sisters’ internalization of oppression as women are socialized in a way that compels them to accept male dominance within the organization — and the household.Early in the book, Abdel Moneim condemns what could be interpreted as the Brotherhood’s exploitation of the permissibility of polygamy in Islam.“One of the areas where the Brothers have exploited the idea of blind obedience and submission is polygamy,” she writes, adding that a brother would take second and third wives for no valid reason. “When the [first] wife complains, a session is held for her where other sisters would remind her of the importance of obedience, patience and submission to God’s will and to [the husband]’s will,” she writes.To understand the roots of the subjugation of women, Abdel Moneim unpacks the writings of Hassan al-Banna, the group’s late founder. Here, the author summons her courage and puts forth a vehement critique of the group’s canonized leader, who is rarely questioned, even by the most vocal ex-brothers.Banna's teachings sought to limit women to "catering to their husbands' desires and to reproduction," Abdel Moneim writes.The book dismisses Banna's dictum that there is no need to invest heavily in girls' education and that women should be trained only to serve as housewives and mothers. Abdel Moneim feels that this sentiment is contradictory to true Islam.“It is true that Islam says that a woman’s primary role is to raise children, but it does not say that this is her only role and that she should not do anything beyond it. Neither the Koran nor the Sunna [Prophet Mohamed’s sayings and deeds] nor the sayings of the prophet’s companions and successors barred her from learning any sciences. The matter has been left for her to decide, according to her needs and circumstances," writes Abdel Moneim.Unfortunately, the situation does not need explicit statement in the Qur'an or Sunna for a critical mass of other parameters to make it the logical conclusion of certain attitudes and behaviors. For example, the obsession with control of women (Qur'an 4:34), and the paranoia in Muslim societies about purity and honor work against women's independence.She goes on to criticize Banna's insistence that men and women should be separated. With a scathingly sarcastic tone, the author argues that Banna’s view portrays humans as if they are mere animals who have little control over their impulses.“You cannot by any logic perceive all people as mere female and male sex organs that roam the streets looking for the moment of intercourse like cats," the book reads. Abdel Moneim attributes Banna’s rigid outlook to his rural background.This outlook still shapes the group’s perception of women’s roles within the organization and in the society at large. It justifies why the Muslim Sisters' division cannot operate independently from the Brothers, why no woman is admitted into the group's highest bodies, namely the Shura Council and the Guidance Bureau, and why the group will not acknowledge a woman's right to rule, according to the book. [...]... the author bashes the Brotherhood’s internal dynamics, arguing that it is based on nepotism rather than merit. To substantiate her claim, she refers to her personal experience recounting that she was not easily admitted into the group because she was not the daughter, the sister or the wife of one of the Muslim Brotherhood's heroic or wealthy figures. For both men and women, such family ties are required to facilitate one’s upward mobility within the organization, according to Abdel Moneim.Hmmmm...........Was Mrs. Weiner (Huma Abedin), the Deputy Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton unaware that her mother was reported as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood? Read the full story here.

UK - Pilot with terror links deemed a security risk accuses airline of racism after losing his job.(Dailymail).A British airline pilot arrested over an alleged terrorist plot is claiming racial and religious discrimination after losing his job.The pilot, a Muslim, was judged a security risk because of his close links to two alleged extremists suspected of ‘planning to use an aircraft as part of a hostile or terrorist act’. Because of draconian reporting restrictions imposed last week by an employment tribunal, the man cannot be identified and neither can his employer.Despite this, a well-known British carrier said in a letter that the pilot was ‘in a position to cause considerable harm’ and added that it was in the ‘national interest’ to ensure he never flew commercial aircraft again. Concerns about the two suspected extremists – one is a business partner of the pilot’s brother – were first raised when they paid for flying lessons and a light aircraft in cash.During a raid on the London home of one of the pair, detectives found documents relating to the operation of aircraft, a flight map of the UK and literature from an Islamic extremist group banned in many countries.The pilot, who lives in South-East England and was based at Heathrow, has known the men for ten years and rented a flat from one of them. In October 2007 the pilot himself was arrested – and immediately suspended by the airline – but was never charged. Both his landlord and the other man were prosecuted under the Terrorism Act. Charges against one of the men were later dropped and the other was cleared by a jury.It was at this point that the airline began an internal investigation into the pilot’s conduct, having been passed information about him by Scotland Yard’s SO15 anti-terrorism command at the time of his arrest.The investigation heard claims, denied by the pilot, that he had suggested the September 11 attacks were ‘comparable to the United States’ wars in Afghanistan and Iraq’.On another occasion, while returning to the UK, it was alleged he had read a book on the flight deck which, he explained to the colleague who was captaining the plane, put a ‘different perspective on 9/11’.Details of the extraordinary case have never previously been disclosed.The pilot’s discrimination claim began last week at a tribunal in Havant, Hampshire, where he claimed his employers had effectively ruled that he was ‘guilty by association’.He told the hearing that it was ‘inconceivable that the treatment that I have received . . . would have happened to a non-Muslim or to someone of a different race’.Although the pilot’s case is likely to attract the support of human-rights campaigners, there will be considerable sympathy too for the airline, which said yesterday in a statement that ‘the safety and security of our customers, aircraft and employees is always our number one priority and we will never compromise this area of our business’.The airline added that following information from the police ‘we carried out a thorough investigation and risk analysis and concluded that the claimant was not suitable for work in his role’.Before the hearing began on Thursday, the pilot’s legal team successfully obtained a temporary restricted reporting order preventing him being identified. The reasons for the order, which is being challenged by lawyers for The Mail on Sunday, were not given, although they are understood to relate to illness.Read the full story here.

Atheist Indonesian in protective custody after being beaten by mob.(Telegraph).The atheist identified as Alexander, who goes by just one name, now faces five years imprisonment for blasphemy after police officially arrested and charged him on Friday.The Indonesian Council of Ulema, the Islamic religious authority, reported him over his remarks on a Facebook page he moderated which said: "God does not exist" Mr Alexander, 31, turned up at his government planning offices in Dharmasraya, western Sumatra, on Wednesday to be confronted by a group of men who beat him and then took him to the police.Born a Muslim, Mr Alexander ceased religious activities in 2008 saying he did not believe in God because of all the crime in the world and the number of natural disasters that befell mankind."If God exists, why do bad things happen?" he asked. "There should only be good things if God is merciful." The police chief for Dharmasraya, Senior Commander Chairul Aziz, said the 'ulema' and other religious authorities believed Mr Alexander had defiled Islam by using passages from the Koran to denounce God.Under the Indonesian criminal code blasphemy is defined as publicly expressing feelings or taking some action that spreads hatred, abuse or taints a religion in a way it would cause someone to disbelieve any of the country's six official religions."So it meets the criteria of tainting a religion, in this case Islam," said Commander Chairul. Hmmmm.....Obama :"Indonesia is an example of religious tolerance".Read the full story here.

Muslims in Egypt Burn Christian Homes and Shops, Attack Church.(Aina).By Mary Abdelmassih. A Muslim mob attacked Copts today in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar. No one was reported killed or injured (video). According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.An eye-witness said that a straw hut belonging to a Copt was torched to clear the area for a mosque. There are more than 300 mosques in the village and one church.According to Coptic residents, the reason behind the violence was the parliamentary elections. The Salafists wanted to prevent Copts, who number more than 50% of the inhabitants (20,000), from voting because they intended to vote for two moderate Muslims and not the Salafi candidates. "No Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly was able to vote today, so the Salafists will win the elections," said a witness. Copts were forcefully prevented from voting.US-based WAY TV, which covered live today's Rahmaniya attacks, called commander Osama, head of security at Rahmaniya, who said "everything was OK" -- despite live pictures on TV of the burning homes. Joseph Nasralla of WAY TV spoke to security and made them aware that the videos of the fires were being broadcast in the U.S. and Middle East, which caused the immediate dispatch of security vehicles. By late evening the violence had stopped.In another incident today, a large number of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood entered the Abu Makka church, in Bahteem, Shubra-el-Khayma, Qaliubia province, and informed the congregation that the church has no licence and no one should pray in it. One Muslim said the 1300 square meter church would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital.Bishop Marcus of Shubra el Khayma was scheduled to inaugurate the incomplete church and celebrate the Epiphany mass in the evening. According to Coptic witnesses the Bishop cancelled the festivities, which angered the congregation, who were not informed of the reason. A witness said the Muslim promised to be back tomorrow.Read the full story here.

“B For Bendetta” steers an online laugh in Egypt at the expense of the FJP.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Egyptian online activists started a mockery campaign on Twitter over a recent Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) newspaper headline that read “Anarchists “Bandetta’s” mask leads chaos on January 25,” writing “Bandetta” instead of “Vendetta.”A hastag #BforBandetta mocking the spelling has trended on Twitter, as tweeps make jokes at the expense of the party.The FJP is the political arm of Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood, and recently came on top of the first parliamentary elections in the country, gaining a leading role in the future of Egypt.@SaraHKhaled wrote “#BforBandetta Remember Remember the Fifth of NoBember,” while, @gr33ndata Tarek Amr wrote, “The name is the Breedome and Bustice Party.”Host of ON TV’s al-Bernameg, Bassem Youssef @DrBassemYoussef , wrote: “Watch out for Bandetta! Damn you free education.”Some pro-military rule groups have recently started a scare campaign against anarchists activists, portraying them as an evil group aiming to bring down the state.A previous scare campaign against the liberals, led by political Islamists, has worked. Its results are manifested in the results of the parliamentary elections.Hmmmm.......'Ve haf vays of making you tock.'Read the full story here.

Militant Islamism, Islamism, Islam.(DocsTalk).By Clifford D. May.U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has described the Muslim Brotherhood as “secular.” Vice President Joseph Biden recently said the Taliban “is not our enemy.” According to John Brennan, assistant to the president on counterterrorism, terrorists who proclaim they are motivated by religion should not be described using “religious terms.”Where do such ideas come from?In large measure from advisers -- so perhaps it would be instructive to examine more closely what those advisers are actually saying. U.S. Navy Commander Youssef H. Aboul-Enein has, according to the jacket notes on his book, “Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat,” published by the Naval Institute Press, "advised at the highest levels of the defense department and the intelligence community.” Raymond Ibrahim, a young analyst for whom I have great respect, recently gave the book a withering review. My reading is less harsh. I think Aboul-Enein, who was born in Mississippi and raised in Saudi Arabia, is grappling, seriously and sincerely, with the pathologies that have arisen from within the Muslim world and struggling to formulate a coherent American response. That should not suggest that his efforts have been entirely successful.Aboul-Enein states that "the challenge to America’s national security in the 21st century" comes from "militant Islamist ideology." Good for him for not defaulting to “violent extremism,” a term designed to hide rather than to reveal. He urges that policy-makers adopt a “nuanced” approach to this challenge -- one that “disaggregates” militant Islamism from both Islam and Islamism.To charge that “all Islam is evil,” he says, is a mistake. For many Muslims, Islam is “a source of values that guide conduct rather than a system that offers solutions to all problems.” It is no less incorrect, he adds – with more intellectual honesty than many other analysts have demonstrated -- to “insist that all Islam is peaceful.” Islamic scripture provides ample justifications for hating, oppressing and killing non-Muslims. But it is neither accurate nor productive, he argues, to confirm the militants’ claim that theirs is the only authentic interpretation of Islam – that Muslims not waging a “jihad” against “infidels” are, at best, misguided; at worst, traitors to their faith.As for Islamists, he confirms that they seek “unacceptable outcomes for the United States in the long run.” Allow me to offer one example: Mohammed Badie, Supreme Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said last year that Muslims should strive for “a government evolving into a rightly guided caliphate and finally mastership of the world.”Despite that, Aboul-Enein argues that Islamism has “potential” as an “alternative to militant Islamist Ideology.” His rationale: Islamists intend to achieve their objectives not through violence but “within the political and electoral frameworks of the countries in which they operate.”This is where, in my view, he gets lost in the analytic woods. Islamists may prefer ballots to bullets. But is that because, as Aboul-Enein asserts, they “abhor the violent methodologies espoused by militant Islamists”? Or is because they see elections as a less bumpy path to power?Sheikh Yousef Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, has said that Islam will “conquer Rome … not by the sword but by preaching.” But if you were to infer that he has a moral objection to violence, you’d be wrong. The proof: Qaradawi has praised Hitler for his “punishment” of the Jews, adding, “Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers.”What’s more, Aboul-Enein’s book is filled with examples of Islamists who became militant Islamists – who picked up weapons when peaceful means failed to achieve the ends they sought, and who did so without remorse.He devotes an entire chapter to Sayyid Qutb, who evolved from an Islamist intellectual into “perhaps the most influential militant Islamist thinker of the late 20th century.” Among the experiences that militarized Qutb: a fellowship in the U.S. in 1948-50. In the sleepy rural town of Greeley, Colo., Qutb attended church socials where men and women danced together. Based on such shocking experiences, he developed an “utter contempt for American society, which he viewed as decadent.” (Given a chance to avoid execution in Nasser’s Egypt in 1966, Qutb told his sister: “My words will have more meaning if they execute me!”)Aboul-Enein can’t quite decide whether Hamas, which is committed to the genocide of Israelis, “is an Islamist or militant Islamist group.” He seems conflicted, also, in regard to Saudi Arabia, praising King Abdullah whom, he writes, has “attacked terrorism, praised Saudi security forces in breaking cells, and exposed the realities of their ideology.”However, Aboul-Enein also notes, “Saudis have unfortunately been heavily involved in militant Islamist groups, even volunteering to fight American forces in Iraq.” And it was Saudi royals who gave refuge and teaching positions to such exiled militant Islamists as Sayyid Qutb’s brother, Muhammad Qutb, and to Abdullah Azzam, whose slogan was “Jihad and the rifle alone.” Among their star students at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah was the young Osama bin Laden.Aboul-Enein laments, too, the fact that “Saudi Islamist Wahhabism,” the ultra-orthodox variety of Islam that is the kingdom’s state religion, is “colonizing Islam around the world through money and proselytizing” and that these efforts are changing “the character of Muslim nations such as Indonesia or Morocco, marginalizing Sufism or the Maliki school of Sunni Islam in North Africa” in ways that are “not in the long-term interest of the United States or other nations.”Perhaps most difficult to square in Aboul-Enein’s analysis is simply this: On the first page of his book he describes militant Islamists as Muslims who call for “the strictest possible interpretation of both the Quran (Muslim book of divine revelation) and the hadith (the Prophet Muhammad’s actions and deeds).” On the last page of his book, he endorses President George W. Bush’s charge that “Militant Islamists have hijacked Islam.”But can strictly interpreting Islamic scripture really be synonymous with hijacking Islam? If not, small wonder that so many American officials advised by Aboul-Enein and others sound confused.Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.Read the full story here.

In Memory Of Alexander Munch (1948 - 2012).

Israeli Six-Day War Vet.

Previous Blogs here and here."
If liberty means anything at all, it means
the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." George Orwell.

Comments advice.

Visitors & commenters of this Blog are advised that they will be held responsible for any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, or harmful material of any kind or nature posted by their respective ISP. Visitors are cautioned not to transmit via comments, including links to any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. Comments here are typically unmoderated and unedited. The fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes the site owner's endorsement of commenters' views.

Irshad Manji.

"Muslim refusenik" is a phrase Manji uses to identify herself as someone who refuses to "join an army of robots in the name of God.".

Ayaan Hirsi Ali .

Wafa Sultan .

"Telling the truth after proper investigation is the height of courage." - Wafa Sultan.

Hagarism - The Making of the Islamic World.

Pakistani Women's Human Rights Organisation

Persian2English -

Stop Child Executions

I Stand With Israel !

Koran 7:7, where G-d Himself bequeaths the Land of Israel to the Jews, as a nation who thought themselves weak, and blesses them with goodness.Source

Shariah: The Threat to America

This book is based on the statements of the world's leading Shariah authorities and Shariah academic scholars.

The Abuse of Holocaust Memory.

Myths of Islam

"Religion does not require women to veil their hands, feet and faces or enjoin any special type of veil. Tribal custom must not impose itself on the free will of the individual."

Amanullah Khan - King of Afghanistan (1919-1929).

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, head of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam,” said Sheikh Tantawi, vowing to ban it in Al-Azhar schools.After the girl complied he insisted she should not wear it any more.“I tell you again that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and it is only a mere custom. I understand the religion better than you and your parents.” The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar imam vowed to issue a ban against the face-veil in all schools linked to Al-Azhar.“Source

The Jewish Holocaust.

The Armenian Holocaust.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.No infringement intended. This blog is for educational and information purposes only.